Category: Whimsical

“What if I should fall right through the center of the earth…oh, and come out on the other side where people walk upside-down?” – Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland.

And now something weird for your Friday. You wouldn’t think the world would have so many upside down houses, but it does. People have built them for all kinds of reasons, from starting up a tourist attraction to commenting on the absurdity of politics.

Upside Down House in Usedom, Germany: Designers Klausdiusz Golos and Sebastian Mikiciuk have a very nonchalant approach to this tourist exhibit, saying, “We didn’t do it for a reason. We just wanted to do something different.”

Upside Down House at the Old School House Museum in Lee Vining, California: Part of an outdoor exhibit at a roadside museum in California, this tiny shed gets top billing as the “legendary upside-down house!”

Wonderworks in Orlando, Florida: They bill themselves as “Central Florida’s only upside down attraction — an amusement park for the mind, featuring over 100 interactive exhibits.”

Upside Down House in Poland: Daniel Czapiewski, an entrepreneur in Poland, built this house to comment on the insanity of contemporary politics (and bring in tourists as well).

Casa de Cabeca para Baixo in Rio: Don’t know too much about this upside-down house, except that it’s located in Cabo Frio, Rio de Janeiro, and the Flickr member who took the photo says “They are reforming it. It’s a Showroom from a house-construction shop.”

St. Paddy’s Day is definitely an homage to Ireland, but there’s no denying that it also pays tribute to something a little more universal – booze. And while you may be thinking “What the heck does alcohol have to do with green design?” there are actually a keg’s worth of hooch-related eco innovations out there that you might not know about yet.

TINY IRISH PUB ON WHEELS

When Irish cabinetmaker John Walsh decided to convert his rusty old caravan into a tiny pub, the world’s most charming St. Patrick’s Day hotspot was born. The Shebeen is literally translated into “an illicit bar where alcohol is sold illegally.” The mobile booze cruiser was so popular in Ireland, the people of Boston commissioned another one to be brought to the states.

ARCHITECT BUIILDS HIS OUSE OUT OF 8,500 BEER BOTTLES

This brings new meaning to the song 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall. Aspiring architect in Chongqing city, China designed and constructed his very own office with 8,500 recycled beer bottles. The impressive upcycled structure gets its sturdy foundation from 40 layers of beer bottles. The entire construction took four months and $11,000 to complete.

A BEER BOTTLE THAT DOUBLES AS BRICK

Have your brick and drink it too? Famed beer brewer Alfred Heineken and Dutch architect John Habraken came out with their Heineken WOBO (world bottle) brick all the way back in 1963, but the principle behind it still rings true today. As you probably already guessed, the idea behind the boozy brick was that thirsty people could drink their fix of beer from the WOBO and reuse it to build structures. Cheers to that.

A PAVILION MADE OF 33,000 BEER CRATES

It must have taken a lot of frat parties to empty out the 33,000 yellow beer crates that architects SHSH stacked atop one another to create this intoxicating pavilion. Using the crates like giant legos, the design features interesting architectural touches like columns, arches and even domes inside.

Reoccurring conceptual pop-up shops have become the latest and most innovative way to access up and coming ideas in design and fashion. By opening up home spaces to photoshoots, conceptual stores and events, a new trend in home design is emerging.

The Loft is a periodically recurring conceptual pop-up store. It beautifully expresses the eclectic nature of their values with our choice of products. I’m particularly fond of the natural materials like wood, steel, leather, glass, wool and ceramics. These materials tell a lot about the love and attention invested in a product. It shows its age and origin, its history, the way it was crafted. Learn more about the Loft studio here and swoon.

Seems to good to be true — you stop for gas, and find an oasis of pinot instead.Napa has a new hot-spot, is Tank Garage Winery— an old vintage service station
transformed into a super cool wine country destination.It’s the perfect casual
road stop to try some new wine, take in the scenery or snap a few good photos.
Not a huge fan of wine in general, I’m more a of craft cocktail gal, but I love
the name, branding and use of old materials.

Thanks to the wonderful word of Instagram,
artful photography has never been so user
friendly. Everybody can do it – even the
mini Lego peeps. U.K.-based photographerAndrew Whyte reveals the world through
the lens of a Lego man who is obviously
having adventures of his own whether it be
climbing a fence or slipping on a banana peel.
My favorite? The diminutive little man
facing a lonely bench looming in the
background. Enjoy more Legography here.